Nifty down 10 points in choppy trade; tech, bank stocks crack

Equities logged modest losses in a lacklustre trading session amid profit booking ahead of earnings season as the benchmark CNX Nifty moved down by 10 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today.
In a relatively quiet session, market showed some amount of consolidation and took a breather after heavy battering in previous sessions triggered by political uncertainty and deteriorating economic data amid fear of FIIs pulling out of domestic markets.
After a weak start, the key index quickly bounced back to trade in positive terrain following select buying in frontline heavyweights and beaten down counters. But profit-taking at higher levels dragged the 50-share index lower and trading remained choppy for most part of the day.

Buying by domestic funds and covering some short positions helped the market to cut losses towards the end.
Technology stocks witnessed heavy selling ahead of earnings and they were followed by banking and metal counters. On the other hand, FMCG, pharma, energy and auto sectors attracted good buying support.
The corporate earnings season will start with results from IT giant Infosys on April 12. Market participants will also be cautiously watching industrial output data and inflation numbers later in the week, traders said.

Globally, barring Japan most Asian peers ended lower, while European markets recovered sharply following a weekend sell-off spooked by disappointing US jobs data.

The Nifty oscillated between a high of 5,569.20 and a low of 5,537.05 before settling at 5,542.95, a modest fall of 10.30 points, or 0.19 per cent, from the last close.
Asian Paint, Ranbaxy, PNB, Axis Bank, Sesa Goa, L&T, Bank of Baroda, HDFC, Indus Bank and Jindal Steel were among the losers from the Nifty pack. Notable gainers included Reliance Infra, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Ambuja Cement, Cipla, Dr Reddy, HUL, Tata Power, UltraTech and BPCL.
Turnover in the cash segment dropped to Rs 7,156.41 crore from Rs 9,558.82 crore last Friday. A total of 4,442.43 lakh shares changed hands in 43,56,818 trades. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 61,86,164 crore.